Hello - I am happy to say in my 3 short years of being a nail technician I haven't come across a case of the greenies until RECENTLY - I work with 2 other nail technicians. . . They have been at this salon for years....I have been in a few different placed....so I brought in a fresh perspective on things.
I watch what they do with products and can't understand for the life of me why they do what they do? ???
First off they go through more glue & powder then I can believe - we order 12+ glues a month- we use light elegance gel - but they tell me that it doesn't adhere to the natural nail (?????) And you have you have to put down a layer of either powder and glue or acrylic first (???????)
--side note I've used LE and no you do not!
And on some clients gel fill they skip the gel and Do a fill with powder and glue - because the LE won't adhere to the natural nail??????
They also buff way way way too much - I see their clients and there's white spots and soft nails all over the place :-(
So -I basically do my own thing- I don't follow their ways -
We have a gal out on medical - I had a client of hers today- she has shellac on for 2 weeks and ended up with a greenie, Shellac was removed - fungi nail applied & a layer of powder & glue over the greenie to seal it (???????), I just did regular shellac application over her natural nails....but geeze.
1/2 hour before this another in of this girls clients came in for an acrylic fill with the other nail tech and she had the same on 2 nails - greenies -
Now our salon saves everyone's files, buffers, and woodsticks in an individual bag so there's no cross contamination. . .I use zip lock, but do not close them air tight, I just roll them up, not zip seal them.
Any thoughts on why the greenies - could it be the odd uses of powder glue ? The bags being sealed up?
Yikes
Thoughts - thanks -Celeste

Hi Celeste.. good for you doing what you know is right.. what they are all doing is oh so wrong..

greenies is a bacterial thing.. not a fungus.. so right now, because I'm leaving in the morning for a long weekend, is paste 2 articles.. one by my dear friend Vicki Peters.. geeze not sure what year she wrote those tips of the week things, but its a long time ago..

Quote:TIP OF THE WEEK #9
by Vicki Peters

"GREENIES"

This tip I thought I would address a problem we all encounter at our
manicuring tables, greenies, fungus, mold and other un-identifying little
challenges and what do to with them.

Recently SherErvin posted a message that read: If a fungus or mold is
discovered, should we take the artificial nail off and put a new one on or
take it off until the nail grows out? Should we use Dr. G's or Fungoff or
refer them to a doctor? Good question.

WHAT IS A GREENIE?
It is an area that the artificial nail has lifted off the natural nail and
created a warm dark place for bacteria to grow. IT IS NOT MOLD¼..we have all
been told that - even me - it is and it is NOT. Mold grows on bread not
nails.

The bacteria that is found on nails that makes them green is the same
bacteria you will find on your shower curtain in the bathroom. You create a
warm dark place for it to grow and it will. Heading this off of course is to
have no lifting but we all know this happens from time to time to the best of
us. That is why it is so important to prepare the nails for a fill or full
set well by filing down any lifting and replacing the acrylic or whatever you
are using. Acrylic nails do not cause the bacteria the space between the
nails and acrylic collect moisture when washing hands or showering and it
grows.

So if you have a client that has a greenie - tell her it is NOT fungus or
mold and you can take care of it. So if the client with the greenie is a
regular fill and she fills her nails every other week or so and takes care of
her nails - and she gets a greenie - don't panic. The lighter green it is the
younger the bacteria. Sometimes the bacteria was there last time you filled
her and did not see it because it was clear at that stage and by the time she
comes back in two weeks later it has grown and turned green. Remove the
entire artificial nail by soaking it off in acetone. Soak it completely off
and clean it and the finger from the acetone - you may want her to wash with
a sanitized nail brush with a anti-bacterial soap and let dry. The with a
buffer your going to throw away after use, gently buff the surface of the
nail and greenie. Do not attempt to remove the green color because it is a
stain and will not come out. It must grow off - but later in the tip I will
show you how to cover it up on a pink and white nail. Anyway the darker the
green the deeper the strain so live with it - if you continue to buff to
remove the color you will buff right into the nail plate and weaken the nail
until it may become sore. So after buffing the surface dust the nail and use
a dehydrator, re-prime and reapply the acrylic.

What is killing the bacteria is the exposure to the air - so you may want to
leave this nail exposed to the air for as long as you can. You are taking
away the warm dark place for it to grow by exposing it to the air. If you
feel more comfortable suggest to the client to leave it off for a day and
comeback in and replace it after exposure to the air for 24 hours. Soaking it
in bleach, acetone or any other solution will help but will not kill. Only
the air kills. So don't waste your time soaking in anything.

If the client with the greenie comes in with a dark green on her nail or a
green that looks like it is going to turn brown then I would not recommend
apply acrylic on it after removal. This bacterial infection is older and
has been there for a while. Do not let the client intimidate you into doing
it either if you do not feel right about it. Educate her on your expert
opinion on this and if she insists refuse to do her nails. Loosing your
license over this is not worth one nail. She will find someone else to do it
I am sure. Your integrity is much more important.

The darker the green the older and more severe it is.
Now if you have a client that has greenies on all her nails something is up.
It is either your application or the client is changing her medications,
having health problems or just should not be wearing artificial nails. There
can be lots of reasons. Now if you have more than a handful of greenies a
year you need to access what you are doing and re-evaluate your application
techniques and take responsibility for the service you are providing. There
is something wrong with what your doing. Now I am not saying to take
responsibility for the client who comes in once a month with her nails all
glued together because they lifted so bad because she milks her fills. That
is not your responsibility - it is hers. Use your common sense on
determining if it is your fault or hers. If she is not a consistent client
that glues in between fills and gets greenies all the time you need to
educate her and if she does not listen - cut her loose. Someone else can
have her.

FUNGUS AND YEAST INFECTIONS
These little infections are beyond our manicuring license and you should send
them to a doctor for treatment. I cannot tell you the difference I can only
tell you that the natural nail usually lifts, sometimes can have a little
orangish tinge to them.

So make friends with a podiatrist or dermatologist in your area and network
with them. Offer free manicures and educate the doctor when she or he come in
to get a manicure so you both see eye to eye on the problems and cures of the
challenges you see at your table. But most importantly - have the doctor
culture the problem. I will tell you why.

I had a natural nail client Anne who came to me for years. When I first saw
her - her right thumb nail was lifted 75% and had an orange color to it that
she constantly tried to clean out even though I told her to leave it alone.
We figured she got this from picking the thorns off her roses in her garden.
Who knows. Anyway my gut told me it was a yeast infection - and I have no
authority or knowledge to make this determination - however that is what I
thought it was. Well Anne claimed she had this great dermatologist and would
not take my advice on using an over the counter vaginal yeast infection cream
on her nail. So off to the Dr. she went and spent over $100 on medications
that did nothing. A month or so later I insisted she go back and get the nail
cultured. She went back and spent another $100 on meds that didn't work and
the Doctor made a face when she mentioned her manicurist suggest he culture
it, which he did not. Months go by the nail looks the same and off to the
doctor she goes again. Another $100 for the meds that didn't work. Finally
when she went back for the 4th time I called her doctor and insisted that he
culture it, and so did she this time. Know what it was???? A yeast infection
and with the right meds it cleared up in two weeks.

So let me explain why a culture is important. There are many different
bacteria, funguses and yeast infections. Doctors "practice" medicine - it
is not an exact science. So when they take a culture what they do is take a
sample from what is under the nail and put it in a pietri dish and let is
grow for a day or so. Then they take several medicines they think will work
and put a drop on what is growing in the petri dish and see which one works
the best and prescribes the medicine. So it is guesswork by throwing
spaghetti at the wall and seeing which one works the best. Not fool proof
but better than us guessing at what it is with no way to fix it.

SO NOW THAT YOU HAVE A GREENIE ON A PINK AND WHITE NAIL HOW DO YOU COVER IT
UP?
The Polished Nail in San Saba Texas has colored acrylics, they also have
colored French manicure pink powders that are totally sense and you cannot
see through. They have 10 or 12, maybe more different shades of pink.

Prepare the nails for application as usual. Use your regular acrylic and
right over the greenie applie a ball of pink from The Polished Nail that
matches the pink powder of the product you currently use. It may not match
100% but find one close in color. With a very dry ball - the dryer the
denser the color - apply a dry ball of the Polished Nails pink product right
over the greenie. Then fill in the remainder of the nail with your regular
pink and it's liquid. Use the appropriate liquids with the powders - do not
mix liquids and powders. It may have a slight color difference but this is
a better option than having to polish a color over pink and white nails.

The Polished Nail 800/90-Nails

So working with greenies should not be scary if you know how to handle the
problem correctly. We all need to know because we all will have to deal with
it someday and god forbid they teach this to us in school!

DISCLAIMER
Any products mentioned in the "Tip Of The Week by Vicki Peters" is not an
endorsement of any kind.

and then this one which is actually 2 articles.. let me know if you have more questions.. I'll be reading emails on the road

Quote:Greenies Explained..
Doug Schoon, Dir R&D Creative Nail Design

Hello Everyone,

I have read some of the recent e-mail exchanges over nail infections and I wanted to comment, if I may. There are a lot of myths about nail infections. It is hard to address them all at once, so instead I'd like to explain how these infections occur and then you can decide for yourself which claims and statements make sense.

What we call "greenies" are almost always bacterial infections on the surface of the nail plate. In other words, bacteria are the reason for the infection. These bacteria need food and water, like all living things do. So, if bacteria is growing, there must be a good source of both food and water, or they'll die. Likewise, if you want to kill or prevent bacteria, all you have to do is remove the food and water.

Greenies are NOT caused by moisture. That's like saying, "if I water the ground every day, a flower will grow." Of course that won't happen, unless there were flower seeds in the ground. The same is true with nail infections. Before a nail infection can occur, the surface of the nail plate must be contaminated with substantial amount of bacteria. These bacteria are common everyday sort of household bacteria. They need to be removed from the surface of the nail plate before the product is applied. These bacteria are everywhere and don't normally cause nail problems, until they get trapped under a nail enhancement. Then they can grow like crazy. This happens for several reasons. The bacteria are happy and cozy in their new warm and moist home... surrounded by food. To a bacteria, oils on the nail plate are gourmet food. Normally, these bacteria don't grow well in an oxygen environment. But, covering the nail plate with an enhancement creates a nearly oxygen free environment- which these bacteria just love... love to multiply. They eat the oils and excrete an extremely dark green substance. This is what we see when the nail turns green.

Infections have two possible source. In other words, there are two places where the infection causing bacteria can come from (under most conditions):
1. The bacteria was on the nail plate and was not thoroughly removed before the coating was applied.
or
2. The bacteria somehow got between the nail plate and the product after the client left the salon.

Those are the only potential choices. The first one is a salon error. The tech allowed or caused the infection. Or at the least, the tech did not take the proper steps to prevent the infection. I don't know what percentage of infections actually occur in the salon, but I would guess the number is high. Probably the vast majority of infections that occurred on nails with no signs of lifting were caused by the nail tech. For example, if a client touches her nails to her face and the nail plates aren't re-cleaned... the chances of an infection go up tremendously! This is why nail techs should have clients wash their hands before every service AND individually clean the nail plates just before applying product. Also, this is why I developed ScrubFresh, to help address this important issue. In short, clean the nail plates. Remove the surface moisture and oils (and the bacteria) before product is applied, it will be very unlikely for your client to get infections.

If the client has product lifting and bacteria get under the nails, usually no infections occurs. If the client glues her own lifted nails, the chance of infection increase fantastically! (No oxygen now, yummy for bacteria) I recommend that you train your clients to leave lifts alone. Better to fix them in the salon and avoid dealing with infections <IMO>.

Finally, once you use a file on an infected nail, don't use it on another nail. Throw it away! Nobody needs that file and it is going to be very difficult to completely disinfect. I strongly recommend that you wrap them in plastic wrap and trash 'em.

I hope this helps you to understand and avoid nail infections. They really make sense if you understand them. The best part is, if you understand them, you will rarely see them in your salon.

[webmaster note--the word MOLD needs to be g-o-n-e from our vocabulary as nail technicians.. if you call it mold.. you need to read this <G>]

Lets call it what it actually is: a green stain on the nail plate is a Pseudomonas bacterial infection. Mold is not a human pathogen!
Pseudomonas (sue-dough-no-mus) bacterial spores can become trapped between the nail plate and the overlay if the nail plate is not properly cleansed and dehydrated prior to application. It can also become trapped if an infected or 'dirty' file is used. This generally happens if one uses the same files on every client rather than individual files for each one, and if the files are not sanitized between uses. The green stain is a by-product of the infection and is mostly composed of iron compounds. Pseudomonas can also invade the nail plate if lifting is present and the client has been 'digging in the dirt' as pseudomonas thrive in the moist soil.

To rid the nail plate of the infection, simply remove the enhancement, lightly buff the stain to open up the nail plate cells, scrub the nails with a lint-free wipe saturated with Scrub Fresh ! (Creative). This will remove all moisture and some of the surface oils, and leave behind pathogen fighters to keep the spores from breeding. Then, depending on the depth of the color, you can safely reapply product. If the stain is very dark, I would suggest leaving the product off for a period of time to allow the nail plate to 'harden' before applying any more product. Instruct the client to keep the plate clean and dry at all times, and wear gloves when having her hands in water or using household cleaning solutions.

True fungus is actually very rare (less than 2%) on fingernails. Fungus spores invade the space between the nail plate and the nail bed through a tear, cut or break in the seal surrounding the nail unit. Fungus 'feeds' off the proteins in the nail plate and is evidenced by a white to yellowish discoloration, nail plate lifting, and evident debris between the nail plate and the nail bed.

If the client has a fungus infection, we are not allowed by law to treat it, or to suggest any means of treating it. Doing so can lead to a lawsuit if the client loses the nail plate. Remove the enhancement, and send the client to her physician or to a dermatologist. True fungus infection can take up to a year to 'kill' even with prescription medications, and it is highly contagious